Guide
An AI assistant that asks before it acts.
AI assistants are learning to do things, not only answer: send the email, move the meeting, pay the bill. That is useful, and it is exactly where a wrong guess costs you. So a good assistant asks before it acts.
In short. An assistant can misunderstand you, and it can be misled by what it reads. So it should propose, and you should approve anything that changes something in the world. Lychnos Ring is built that way: the AI proposes, tested code checks the rules, and one press on the ring says yes.
Why an assistant should ask
- It can misunderstand. “Move my three o’clock” is clear to you and ambiguous to a machine when you have two.
- It can be misled. An assistant that reads your email also reads what strangers write to it, and a message can carry instructions meant for the assistant. More in what an AI agent is.
- Some things cannot be undone. A sent email, a declined invitation, a payment.
What should need your yes
| The assistant… | Ask first? |
|---|---|
| answers a question, summarises your mail, reads out your day | No: nothing changes |
| drafts a reply | No, as long as it waits as a draft |
| sends a reply, accepts or moves a meeting | Yes |
| deletes or archives anything | Yes |
| shares something about you with someone else | Yes |
| pays someone (planned) | Yes, and your bank asks too |
What a good question looks like
It names exactly what will happen: the verb, the person, the time or the amount. “REPLY ANNA: OK 15:00?” is a good question; “Do it?” is not. On Lychnos Ring, a question that cannot show those details on the screen is not asked on the ring; it waits in the app instead.
How Lychnos Ring does it
- The AI proposes. It understands what you said, finds the email or the meeting, and suggests the action.
- Tested code decides what needs you. Rules written as ordinary software, not by the AI, check every proposal: what needs a yes, the limits, the signs of a scam.
- You answer on your finger. One press: yes. Two presses: stop. Everything it did is in the app’s log.
- Money is handled the most carefully. Paying by voice is planned for later, only to payees you have approved in the app, with small limits, and with your bank’s own approval.
It is in development. More in an AI agent on your finger.
Questions
What should an AI assistant do without asking?
Answering, summarising and drafting: nothing changes until you act on them. Anything that sends, moves, pays, deletes or tells someone else something should wait for your yes.
How does Lychnos Ring ask?
The question appears on the ring with the action spelled out, such as who a reply goes to or a meeting's new time. One press says yes; two presses stop it.